Patagonia Running Festival 50k Race Report
- Jen Bloss
- 3 days ago
- 11 min read
Because running in Patagonia is as epic as you think it would be
I just returned from another fantastic race-cation: this time a trip to Chile for the Patagonia Running Festival! There are so many pieces that make this one of my favorite races that I’ve ever done- the gorgeous scenery, an excellent post-race festival, smooth logistics, a fast course. This is definitely a dream race. I still can’t get over the glowing pink sunrise over the mountains in Torres del Paine National Park, and I keep forgetting that it rained for a few hours of the race. It was so pretty that the rain seemed inconsequential. Wanna know more? Read on!
In my quest to run a marathon/ultra on every continent, I’ve been seeking out unique races on each of the continents. I’ve looked at races in Patagonia before, but most of them are in the September-ish time, and I wanted a race that would be in the spring (as in, northern hemisphere spring). I came across the Patagonia Running Festival on social media and was in awe of the images of runners surrounded by epic mountains. Patagonia has always been on my bucket list, so this seemed perfect. As I followed the race Instagram account and kept seeing these amazing photos, I just kept thinking “I’m dying to run there. OMG.” And so I finally committed. I chose the 50k option, but they also had a marathon, half-marathon, 11k, and 5k to choose from.
Here is what you need to know if you’re interested in checking this race out for yourself!
How to Get to the Patagonia Running Festival
The race takes place in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. The closest city to the park is a small town called Puerto Natales, and a few hours south is the city of Punta Arenas. Both cities have airports, but Puerto Natales is much more convenient and is also the jumping off point for tours into the park and also trips to El Calafate, Argentina (also part of Patagonia). If you didn’t know, the region of Patagonia spans both Chile and Argentina, and the race is on the Chilean side.
You have a few options for race accommodation/travel:
-If you’re looking for no-hassle, luxury, and not afraid to pay for it, Marathon Tours & Travel has a trip specifically for the Patagonia Running Festival (and also includes more of Chile). However, I am an excellent travel planner and also a budget traveler, so I knew this option wasn’t for me.
-You also have the option of staying at race headquarters inside of Torres del Paine, which is a very nice hotel called Rio Serrano. This is also where Marathon Tours stays. They had some all-inclusive packages available, but they were also greatly outside of my budget.
-You can stay in Puerto Natales, and take the race-specific buses to and from the race that are included in the price of your race entry. And you can buy spectator bus tickets too, so that your friends and family can join in on the fun.
Originally, I thought it would be rough to have to spend 1.5-2 hours on a bus after the race. But since that there were free showers to use post-race, I got to put on clean clothes and eat some delicious food, so the return bus (a coach bus) turned out to be no big deal and a great little nap! Considering that the race draws lots of Chilean and other South American runners, this is a popular option for many people. I stayed in an Airbnb 2-bedroom house in Puerto Natales for 6 nights for a total of $476 (and then split that cost with my friend). The cost of staying at the race hotel was 5-10x that, although it did include some excursions and nice food. I can definitely tolerate 2 hours on a comfy bus for that amount of cost-savings!
Airport Choices:
Of note, Punta Arenas is not as convenient as a travel hub, but does offer additional flight options. We flew into Puerto Natales for less than $100 from Santiago. However, flights back to SCL were way more expensive, so we opted to take a 3 hour bus (only $9) to Punta Arenas the day after the race, and then flew out of Punta Arenas that night. Sounds like more of a hassle than it was! But if you plan ahead, you can get some good flight deals round trip out of Puerto Natales. I waited until the last minute and didn’t book my return flight until a few days before I left to go to Chile, so my options got expensive.
The Race Kit- Top Notch!
This race kit is the most extensive one I’ve ever received! I felt like it was a Mary Poppins bag of goodies. First of all, the race shirt was excellent. Classy, soft, with a great logo. Many race shirts are flashy and gaudy, but this one you will definitely want to wear. The women’s cut ran a bit small though. We also got a fleece headband, a buff, a bandana, a lanyard, a drawstring bag, stickers, gels, and a ton of snacks. I also got a water bottle and a jar of honey! Sadly, I lost my fleece headband at the post-race festival, and I couldn’t bring the honey home with me, as I try to only travel with carry-on luggage.
What to Expect From the Weather
Anything and everything! The race took place on May 3, 2025. Patagonia is on the bottom of the world, very close to Antarctica, and this means that seasons are reversed from the Northern Hemisphere. The conditions were that of late fall, bordering on winter. The race used to take place in September or October, but wind was a big problem at that time, so they changed it to the first half of the year. Weather in Patagonia is notoriously unpredictable, and race day lived up to that!
Morning temps started in the mid-30s F and the high temp was around 45F on race day. The race started out clear with very little wind. It was chilly, but I warmed up fast. Many runners I spoke to also felt very warm with their jackets on and began shedding layers after the first mile or so. However, after about 2 hours, the clouds rolled in, the wind kicked up, and then the rain came. It persisted for several hours, and then totally cleared up again! While it rained on us runners, the mountains surrounding us in the park at higher elevations got a fresh coat of snow.
Unlike many of my other races, there was no mandatory gear list- but there should have been! There were a number of runners in shorts, and some of them looked absolutely frigid. I wore a short sleeve shirt with a quarter-zip microgrid fleece from REI, and then when the rain started I put on a very thin running rain jacket. I also had on gloves, and toggled between a fleece headband and ball cap based on conditions. My combo was perfect. I never got cold, which I am so thankful for. I almost didn’t put my rain jacket on, but when the rain began to blow sideways, I figured that I needed to protect my thermal layer or I could get dangerously cold later on.
Patagonia Running Festival 50k (and Marathon): The Course
This race was unlike any other ultra I’ve ever done- mostly gravel road! The last five miles are on grass. The course runs along the main road in Torres del Paine National Park, which is packed gravel. If you take a tour through the park before the race like we did, you get to drive this as an unofficial race preview. Since it was autumn, the trees had changed to orange and red and you could smell the leaves on the ground. Since I live in a city without real seasons, I love the chance to experience fall!
The 42k and 50k start together at sunrise… which is at 9am! The race takes you past all of the main viewpoints in the park, so you'll definitely want to have your phone accessible to take photos. The course was the perfect amount of rolling hills, but overall very negative in elevation. As a trail runner, the 2,400 feet of gain and 3,300 feet of loss on the course is quite mild. But to a road runner, this might feel like a very hilly course. Personally, I prefer more uphills, because that is my guilt-free excuse to power walk.
The gravel road has lots of little pebbles, so I did wear gaiters to keep them out of my shoes. Not sure if they were truly needed. Also, the gravel is not completely flat, there are lots of little dimples- it feels like a rumble strip when you drive on it. So, that was a bit tough on the ankles.
There is a long, lonely stretch of the course that is around miles 21-23. It is totally flat, in the middle of nowhere, and not much to see. Psychologically this was the most difficult portion of the race. At mile 24, there is a very long and steep uphill and its corresponding downhill, but the down mostly feels like “ouch” at that point instead of a breeze.
Near the end of the course, the marathon runners peel off to the right to head towards the finish, and the 50k runners go to the left for their final 5 miles. The final 5 miles were almost completely on grass. Normally I think grass is not fun to run on, but it felt so good on my knees after 26 miles on the road! This final section was rather confusing on how it was marked, and I did end up going the wrong direction and not realizing it until passing another runner. There were only 23 ultra runners out of the 500 total runners, so I easily could have never seen another runner in this section and had no clue I’d done it wrong. I would suggest placing arrows on some of the markers for next year to aid in figuring out which direction to go.
Overall, this is a very fast 50k course, and I set a new PR!
Aid Stations and Unusual Rules for Nutrition
As this race is run in a national park, Leave No Trace is taken very seriously. As such, you are not allowed to use individual gel packets or have any food in its original individual packaging. And of course, you must bring your own cup for the aid station. Definitely don’t want bits and pieces of plastic flying away in the wind and destroying this beautiful place! As such, I had to carry my gels in a gel flask. It was my first time using one, and it was quite nice, aside from committing to a single flavor. I also used Tailwind and GU Roctane powders, and carried pop-tarts, zebra cakes, and gummy worms in a reusable pouch. I also had cliff shot blocks, but they were too hard to chew after being in the cold weather for a while.
The aid stations had electrolyte drink and water, fruit, and some bars. The brownie bar was pretty decent, but in general I think bars are too dense and solid to eat while running. And there were a few bathrooms on course, but not until mile 13. They definitely need to add a bathroom before that point, because most runners who are going to have an issue will have it way before mile 13!
The Post-Race Party
I don’t often stick around for post-race festivities, but I had a blast at the post-race festival this time! First of all, there were free showers!!! That was stop #1. Towels and soap provided for you! That was one of the greatest things ever. Afterwards, I felt like a clean human and could enjoy myself.
There were a bunch of different food vendors that were free with your runner wristband- pasta, grilled meat, empanadas, etc. That was one of the best empanadas I had during my time in Chile! I also had a giant chunk of roasted lamb that was delicious as well. Inside was a coffee bar, a machine that would print your photo in the foam of your latte, beers, free medal engraving, the works! They had games, fire pits, and all sorts of lively activities. My friend ran the 11k and had to wait for me for hours to finish- and she did not complain because she was having a great time at the festival.
They also did a lot of race awards. Considering how small the field was, I could not believe they did age group awards for the 50k! But I got 2nd place AG and another medal, so I’m not complaining.
Other Details You’ll Want to Know
While there is a very good English website for the race, none of the final runner information is in English. While my Spanish is half-decent, I had to use Google Translate on my phone to read through all of the important details. The post-race party and most of the aid-stations were staffed by lots of people who spoke English though.
There was no runner tracking, but there was a livestream of the event!
This was such a friendly race. Everyone I met on the runner bus in the morning was so kind and there was a camaraderie amongst everyone. I couldn’t believe how many people I was saying hello to after the race! And the volunteers at the aid stations were great, even braving some brutal conditions to be out there for us. I just had such a great time at the Patagonia Running Festival. Once I finish my seven continents, I could definitely see myself coming back to do it again!
***May 1st seems like the unofficial start of winter in Patagonia. This means limited flights, buses, tours, options, etc. If you want to take advantage of your time in Patagonia, you’ll want to front-load your activities before the race. For example, buses stop running into Torres Del Paine after May 1, so you’d have to rent a car or find a tour. The boat to Glacier Grey, which normally runs several times a day until April 30, goes to twice a week only after May 1. We did a trip to the Perrito Moreno glacier in Argentina, and that international border starts shutting down early after May 1. And of course, the weather changes, so it's not really a great time to hike. I don’t love doing it this way, because the race hangs over your head the entire trip- although it does help with adjusting to new time zones.
An Awesome Race Because of an Awesome God
While the scenery and the logistics were fantastic and I had an incredible day out there, that is not fully why this race was so amazing to me. And it was not my diligent training or talent as a runner that made the day so great either. It was the way I experienced God and his power to heal and the beauty of His creation.
About ten days before the race I got a new injury, while on a run. I did what I could with massage, strengthening, etc, but it would not go away. The pain was sharp when I ran, and got so bad that at times that it would even hurt to walk. I was extremely nervous and had a feeling of doom and disappointment about the race. But I had this nagging feeling that only prayer and God’s grace could help me through the race. I imagined that I would be in excruciating pain and just grinding through, and I was not sure that I’d make it, even halfway. But the day before the race I decided that I would just have to trust that God would provide for me in this situation.
Well, not only did I finish the race- but I had NO pain! That injury did not flare up at all! I was able to run pain-free and bask in the beauty of all He has created, while overflowing with gratitude to God! I was in awe of God just as much as I was in awe with the scenery.
Lessons Learned
This situation really reminded me of a few things. First, I’m not in control. No matter how hard I try to make things work for myself, I can’t. God is in control, and He listens to our prayers.
Second, running is a gift from God. I used to hate running, yet now it is one of my passions. But the gift is not guaranteed for life. So I am incredibly thankful for the time that I have with it, how it has changed me, and the adventures it keeps leading me on!
A Race to Dream About
And there you have it! The Patagonia Running Festival is an amazing race experience. Once in a lifetime race views, a spectacular post-race party, well-coordinated logistics, and a great race kit really make this a bucket-list experience.
If you want to check out race reports from some of my other international or ultra races, you can read about New Zealand here, Africa here, and in a redwood forest in Northern California here!
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